17-strong Jamaican contingent ready for start of competition

JAMAICA’s team to this weekend’s 2025 Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival landed in Nassau yesterday morning, smartly attired in national colours, drawing admiration from airport to hotel and other competing teams based at Breezes Resorts and Spa.

Having entered the open and mixed-team 200-metre events, Jamaica’s contingent has swollen to 17 competitors - 13 male and four female - including the Russell trio, matriarch Chue-Ping Wong Russell joined by daughters Danielle and Cassandra.

Denise Romero-Williams is the other female competitor for the event, which starts tomorrow with multiple teams, open and mixed, from North America and the Caribbean.

Romero-Williams and the Russells will combine with Akino Lindsay, Richard Stone, Sharic Bowen, Rushaine Tyrell, Oshane Wilson, Leighton Scott and Arthur Barrows for mixed-team action at the festival, which Breezes Bahamas’ managing director, Muna Issa, described as “captivating” and involving every strata of Bahamian society.

“The Chinese ambassador will be there and the prime minister of Bahamas could also make an appearance,” said Issa, pointing out that Breezes will also field a team, outlining the level of importance the international festival commands on the Bahamian sports and social calendar.

After lunch and rest, Jamaica jumped into training, led by captain Jason McKay and helmsman Neil Yap Sam, vice-president of the Jamaica Dragon Boat Federation, along with team members Delano Francis and Gregory Forsyth.

Jamaica’s chances will be boosted by Raúl S. Fernández-Calienes, a dragon boat racer since age eight. Claiming Jamaican and Cuban parentage, Fernández-Calienes started with the Blazing Paddles racing team in Hollywood, Florida.

Now with the SACA Golden Dragons, based in Tampa, Fernández-Calienes has raced in Florida, Alabama, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, and Jamaica. His racing highlights include winning two silver medals at the Pan American Club Crew Championships, at age 12, in Panama.

He also competed among adults, representing the SACA Golden Dragons. At age 14, Fernández-Calienes was selected for the United States’ national Dragon Boat team, junior division, and travelled to Brandenburg, Germany, where he represented the USA at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships, winning six medals in both open and mixed junior divisions.

A boat captains’ meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today at Breezes’ Seabreeze Ballroom, at which the press, local and international, will formally meet team leaders ahead of tomorrow’s races.

Dragon boat racing has its roots in ancient Chinese folk rituals. It involves teams of paddlers propelling a long, canoe-like boat decorated with a dragon’s head and tail.

The sport is characterised by teamwork, synchronicity and the presence of a drummer and a steersperson. Races typically involve multiple teams competing over a set distance.

Dragon boat racing has been featured as a demonstration sport at the Olympics, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.